basically 2 categories... Hydrocarbon and Fluorocarbon... the later can be had in high Fluoro or low Fluoro content... Low Fluoro is like 2.5-3x more expensive than the Hydrocarbon... High Fluoro or even pure Fluoro powder are like 10 times the price of HC wax...

i wax my base with a good hydrocarbon (Swix CH8 essentially - their Alpine base prep wax). usually 2-3 applications (first one being a hot scrape) for the beginning of the season... then use Fluoro (low) for my wax of the day... I use the Swix LF stuff.... it's a bit pricey, but i've learned to be super efficient in applying it for minimal waste...

High Fluoro and powders are really only for racing... or if you have insane amounts of money and are insane yourself.... ;)

and I personally DO see a difference with waxing... I see people in the lift lines often times - asking me - does your board stick? and then some other guy will pipe in, yeah mine too... all the while, I'm cruising by, no hint of drag.... proper waxing in certain snow conditions makes a BIG difference

besides, waxing regularly keeps the base nice and hydrated and prolongs its life.... white and dry looking bases are not something you'll see in my quiver... I also keep my scraper nice and sharp, have a bunch of edge tools (sharpening file, pocket stone, diamond stone, gummi stone), and some brushes (horse hair and copper brush)... i don't mess around ;)

i use the whatever all temp wax i can find cheaply. I do nothing fancy either. Hot wax, scrape and go. Mostly because im riding equal parts snow and concrete so all the fine tuning stuff with brushes and base cleaner would really be a waste.

contra said: to be clear, i meant i haven't noticed a difference in brands of wax, not that i don't notice a difference between waxing and not waxing.

yea, unless you're counting milliseconds I doubt anyone could really tell a difference between the different waxes. I gotta give my boys at Purl some love though, they've been hooking me up for years. Quality stuff, priced right and made in summit county. A block of purple (all-temp), some blue (cold) and some orange (warm) and you're set up for the season. http://purlracing.com/osc/catalog/

89c51 said: putting brand aside which is just preference for the average rider what really matters is the correct wax for the correct conditions (temp and humidity)

agreed. right wax for the right conditions. I generally have cold and warm weather waxes. make sure you scrape that sh*t off too and get it nice and smooth with a scotch brite. just a very thin layer should be left. That has been more noticeable to me than the brand of wax. Although I've always wanted to buy one of those $100 pieces of super high fluoro just to see the difference.

i use holmenkol wax. its really fast. i have to say that the board i have right now has the most amazing base ive ever had on a snowboard. i have been out on it 16 times without waxing it and it is STILL much faster than the CX i demod a few days ago

hi-hater-u-c-me said: i use holmenkol wax. its really fast. i have to say that the board i have right now has the most amazing base ive ever had on a snowboard. i have been out on it 16 times without waxing it and it is STILL much faster than the CX i demod a few days ago

hi-hater-u-c-me said: i use holmenkol wax. its really fast. i have to say that the board i have right now has the most amazing base ive ever had on a snowboard. i have been out on it 16 times without waxing it and it is STILL much faster than the CX i demod a few days ago